Swarm of locusts reaches Egypt, Israel

RELIGION NEWS SERVICE

March 8, 2013Updated: March 9, 2013 2:40am

Photo: Uriel Sinai, Getty Images

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KMEHIN, ISRAEL - MARCH 06: A Swarm of locusts moves over an Israeli army fire range near the Egyptian border on March 6, 2013 in Kmehin, Israel. Egypt and Israel have been swarmed with millions of locusts over the past few days causing wide spread disturbances.

KMEHIN, ISRAEL - MARCH 06: A Swarm of locusts moves over an Israeli army fire range near the Egyptian border on March 6, 2013 in Kmehin, Israel. Egypt and Israel have been swarmed with millions of locusts over

KMEHIN, ISRAEL - MARCH 06: Israelis look at a swarm of locusts arriving over the Negev desert near the Egyptian border on March 6, 2013 in Kmehin, Israel. Egypt and Israel have been swarmed with millions of locusts over the past few days causing wide spread disturbances.

KMEHIN, ISRAEL - MARCH 06: Israelis look at a swarm of locusts arriving over the Negev desert near the Egyptian border on March 6, 2013 in Kmehin, Israel. Egypt and Israel have been swarmed with millions of

KMEHIN, ISRAEL - MARCH 06: A man holds locusts as a Swarm of locusts arrives in Israel near the Egyptian border on March 6, 2013 in Kmehin, Israel. Egypt and Israel have been swarmed with millions of locusts over the past few days causing wide spread disturbances.

KMEHIN, ISRAEL - MARCH 06: A man holds locusts as a Swarm of locusts arrives in Israel near the Egyptian border on March 6, 2013 in Kmehin, Israel. Egypt and Israel have been swarmed with millions of locusts

KMEHIN, ISRAEL - MARCH 06: A Swarm of locusts moves over an Israeli army fire range near the Egyptian border on March 6, 2013 in Kmehin, Israel. Egypt and Israel have been swarmed with millions of locusts over the past few days causing wide spread disturbances.

KMEHIN, ISRAEL - MARCH 06: A Swarm of locusts moves over an Israeli army fire range near the Egyptian border on March 6, 2013 in Kmehin, Israel. Egypt and Israel have been swarmed with millions of locusts over

KMEHIN, ISRAEL - MARCH 06: An Israeli man looks at his binoculars after he collected locusts as a Swarm of locusts arrives in Israel near the Egyptian border on March 6, 2013 in Kmehin, Israel. Egypt and Israel have been swarmed with millions of locusts over the past few days causing wide spread disturbances.

KMEHIN, ISRAEL - MARCH 06: An Israeli man looks at his binoculars after he collected locusts as a Swarm of locusts arrives in Israel near the Egyptian border on March 6, 2013 in Kmehin, Israel. Egypt and Israel

On the eve of Passover, which this year begins at sundown on March 25, Jews around the world will recall the Exodus story and the 10 plagues that befell Egypt.

According to the Old Testament Book of Exodus, God sent 10 plagues to Egypt because the pharaoh refused to free Israelites from captivity.

Locusts were the eighth plague. The pharaoh relented after the 10th plague and the Israelites left, but the Egyptian army pursued them until the soldiers drowned in the sea.

The last sporadic swarm was eight years ago, Keith Cressman, senior locust forecasting officer at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's headquarters in Rome told NBC.

Cressman said the insects bred on the Sudan-Egypt border and got caught up in a weather system carrying them north and east.

Though Israeli agricultural experts are on high alert and fear that the locusts could devastate crops, many Israelis have been more laid back, with some noting that some varieties of the leggy pests are kosher.

“Not only does the Torah permit man to eat certain mammals, birds and fish, but it even permits him to eat certain insects — namely several types of locusts,” Rabbi Natan Slifkin wrote in The Times of Israel.

Although most Jews of European descent have scant experience with locusts and don't know how to identify the kosher kinds, some Jews of North African descent do have the expertise.

Slifkin explained how best to cook the locusts with some oil and spices.

“My wife, however, insists that I do not use her kitchen utensils for the task; she is locust-intolerant,” the rabbi said.

“The rationale for certain locusts being kosher may be a practical matter, when your crops are wiped out by locusts, at least you're not left with nothing to eat.”